Making sense of the wilderness called politics when what is said is not necessarily what is meant.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

UMNO Going Down The Path of The Republicans

The Economists reported in November that the Republican Party's defeat on November 4th was due to primarily losing the battle of the brains. Allow me to elaborate. President-Elect Obama won more college graduates than McCain. Obama also won more voters with post-graduate degrees and voters with household income of more than $200,000. The Republican's Energy Policy was 'Just drill, baby, drill. That was enough to send a message to the educated Americans. It was clear that the Republican Party has separated themselves from the Intellegintsia of America. The separation was clearly enhanced during George Bush's 2 terms as the President, a President now made famous from the shoe-throwing incident in Iraq. Iraq War was ran by an incompetent Commander-In-Chief with no clear national vision. Katrina was handled disastrously. New Orleans still looks like a war-torn country. Notice the state of economy of which Bush will hand over to Obama.

The election in the US had more educated Americans this time around. More than a quarter of Americans graduated with degrees, that's approximately 60,000,000 people, while 20% of households earn more than $100,000 a year, an increase of 16% since 1996, according to the Economist. Almost 69% of those 20% people are professionals. The Republican's "red neck" strategy had blown up in their faces. Their ads tried to portray Palin as the Hockey mom who was just concerned about fuel price and day-to-day affairs. November 4th told them it was quite the contrary.

Does this sound familiar in Malaysia? Leaders must realize that the voters' sophistication has changed. If they fail to acknowledge this, then prepared to be changed out.